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    Military Number One in Public Confidence, HMOs Last

    Military Number One in Public Confidence, HMOs Last

    by Chris Chambers

    GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

    PRINCETON, NJ -- The Gallup Poll's annual rating of Americans' confidence in the country's major institutions shows that the public has more confidence in the military than in any other institution tested, followed by organized religion, and then the police and the Supreme Court. At the other end of the spectrum, HMOs suffer from the lowest level of public confidence of any of the 15 institutions included in the June 22-25 survey.

    The levels of public confidence for all 15 of the institutions included in the study have varied only slightly since Gallup last asked these questions in June 1999. The military retains its leading position -- as it has since 1986 -- with 64% of Americans giving it high confidence marks. While remaining comfortably ahead of "the church or organized religion," in second place at 56%, the level of confidence in the military has declined four percentage points since last year.

    Confidence in the police maintains its ranking as the third highest in the list of major institutions (54%). Racial identity appears to be a pivotal component in the level of public confidence in the police, with a majority of white Americans (57%) expressing confidence, compared to only 38% of nonwhite Americans. This gap in confidence levels may reflect perceived racial profiling by police and recent high-visibility police brutality and racism charges in the U.S. Age also seems to impact confidence in the police, with 43% of those aged 18-29 expressing confidence, compared to 51% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 61% of those 50-64 years old.

    Other highly rated institutions include the Supreme Court (47%) and banks (46%).

    Of the three branches of government, Americans have most confidence in the Supreme Court (47%), followed by the presidency (42%) and then, in last place, Congress (24%). However, confidence in the presidency is lower than average this year, despite the fact that last year's score of 49%, which is also the average of the past nine years, was obtained just a few months after the historic Senate vote on whether to convict President Bill Clinton of the impeachment charges.

    American confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court is significantly higher (47%) than it is in the criminal justice system in general (24%). Further, while HMOs receive only 16% confidence, four in ten Americans are confident in the medical system overall (40%). Television news and newspapers receive comparable scores (36% and 37% respectively). Big business receives a slightly higher score than does organized labor (29% versus 25%). And nearly four in ten Americans are confident in the nation's public schools (37%).

    Survey Methods
    The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,021 adults, 18 years and older, conducted June 22-25, 2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

    Now I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one -- a great deal, quite a lot, some, or very little? First, ... Next, ...

     

     

    A great
    deal

    Quite
    a lot


    Some

    Very
    little

    NONE
    (vol.)

    Don't
    Know/
    Refused

     

    %

    %

    %

    %

    %

    %

                 

    a. The church or organized religion

    28

    28

    26

    14

    2

    2

    b. The military

    25

    39

    26

    7

    1

    2

    c. The U.S. Supreme Court

    18

    29

    35

    14

    1

    3

    d. Banks

    14

    32

    41

    11

    1

    1

    e. Public schools

    13

    24

    41

    19

    2

    1

    f. Newspapers

    12

    25

    38

    22

    2

    1

    g. Congress

    7

    17

    47

    24

    3

    2

    h. Television news

    11

    25

    40

    21

    2

    1

    i. Organized labor

    9

    16

    44

    23

    2

    6

    j. The presidency

    15

    27

    37

    18

    2

    1

    k. The police

    18

    36

    33

    10

    2

    1

    l. The medical system

    14

    26

    37

    21

    2

    *

    m. The criminal justice system

    8

    16

    42

    30

    3

    1

    n. Big business

    9

    20

    45

    22

    2

    2

    o. Health maintenance organizations, also known as HMOs

    6

    10

    35

    38

    7

    4



    * less than 0.5%
    (vol.) Volunteered response

    Now I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how much confidence you, yourself, have in each one -- a great deal, quite a lot, some, or very little?

    CONFIDENCE IN INSTITUTIONS -- FULL TREND
    (COMBINES "A GREAT DEAL" AND "QUITE A LOT")

     

     


    Mil


    Police

    Chrch/
    Rel


    S.Crt


    Banks

    Med
    Sys


    Presi-
    dency

    Pub
    Schls

    TV
    News


    News-
    paprs

                         

    00 Jun

    64%

    54%

    56%

    47%

    46%

    40%

    42%

    37%

    36%

    37%

    99 Jun

    68

    57

    58

    49

    43

    40

    49

    36

    34

    33

    98 Jun

    64

    58

    59

    50

    40

    40

    53

    37

    34

    33

    97 Jul

    60

    59

    56

    50

    41

    38

    49

    40

    34

    35

    96 May

    66

    60

    57

    45

    44

    42

    39

    38

    36

    32

    95 Apr

    64

    58

    57

    44

    43

    41

    45

    40

    33

    30

    94 Mar

    64

    54

    54

    42

    35

    36

    38

    34

    35

    29

    93 Mar

    68

    52

    53

    44

    37

    34

    43

    39

    46

    31

    91 Oct

    69

    --

    56

    39

    30

    --

    50

    35

    --

    32

    91 Mar

    85

    --

    59

    48

    32

    --

    72

    44

    --

    32

    1990

    68

    --

    56

    47

    36

    --

    --

    45

    --

    39

    1989

    63

    --

    52

    46

    42

    --

    --

    43

    --

    --

    1988

    68

    --

    59

    56

    49

    --

    --

    49

    --

    36

    1987

    61

    --

    61

    52

    51

    --

    --

    50

    --

    31

    1986

    63

    --

    57

    54

    49

    --

    --

    49

    --

    37

    1985

    61

    --

    66

    56

    51

    --

    --

    48

    --

    35

    1984

    58

    --

    64

    51

    51

    --

    --

    47

    --

    34

    1983

    53

    --

    62

    42

    51

    --

    --

    39

    --

    38

    1981

    50

    --

    64

    46

    46

    --

    --

    42

    --

    35

    1979

    54

    --

    65

    45

    60

    --

    --

    53

    --

    51

    1977

    57

    --

    64

    46

    --

    --

    --

    54

    --

    --

    1975

    58

    --

    68

    49

    --

    --

    --

    --

    --

    --

    1973

    --

    --

    66

    44

    --

    --

    --

    58

    --

    39



    CONFIDENCE IN INSTITUTIONS -- FULL TREND
    (COMBINES "A GREAT DEAL" AND "QUITE A LOT")(Continued)

     

     

    Org
    Labor

    Big
    Bus


    Congrss

    Crim
    Just Sys


    HMOs

    00 Jun

    25%

    29%

    24%

    24%

    16%

    99 Jun

    28

    30

    26

    23

    17

    98 Jun

    26

    30

    28

    24

    --

    97 Jul

    23

    28

    22

    19

    -

    96 May

    25

    24

    20

    19

    --

    95 Apr

    26

    21

    21

    20

    --

    94 Mar

    26

    26

    18

    15

    --

    93 Mar

    26

    22

    18

    17

    --

    91 Oct

    22

    22

    18

    --

    --

    91 Mar

    25

    26

    30

    --

    --

    1990

    27

    25

    24

    --

    --

    1989

    --

    --

    32

    --

    --

    1988

    26

    25

    35

    --

    --

    1987

    26

    --

    --

    --

    --

    1986

    29

    28

    41

    --

    --

    1985

    28

    31

    39

    --

    --

    1984

    30

    29

    29

    --

    --

    1983

    26

    28

    28

    --

    --

    1981

    28

    20

    29

    --

    --

    1979

    36

    32

    34

    --

    --

    1977

    39

    33

    40

    --

    --

    1975

    38

    34

    40

    --

    --

    1973

    30

    26

    42

    --

    --




    Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/2749/Military-Number-One-Public-Confidence-HMOs-Last.aspx
    Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, Washington, D.C., 20001, U.S.A
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